It could and should be curtains for Bresnan, Carberry and Panesar... and Bairstow already has Buttler breathing down his neck

When England lost all 10 second-innings wickets for 114 on Saturday, comparisons were made with the darkest hours of Ashes contests in the 1990s. Those comparisons were wrong. This was worse.

It took England years to recover from those traumas but that was mainly because their own structure was in a mess and they were up against one of the greatest sides in history. There are no such excuses now.

Which is why the planning has to start immediately for the five-Test series at home to India in the summer, and – just in case you haven't watched enough Ashes cricket over the past few months – the visit of Australia in 2015.

Walk of shame: Alastair Cook leads his side off the MCG field after they were comprehensively beaten by Australia

Forward planning: England have a five-Test series against India lined up next summer

When England lost all 10 second-innings wicket for 114 on Saturday, comparisons were made with the darkest hours of Ashes contests in the 1990s. Those comparisons were wrong. This was worse.

It took England years to recover from those traumas but that was mainly because their own structure was in a mess and they were up against one of the greatest sides in history. There are no such excuses now.

Which is why the planning has to start immediately for the five-Test series at home to India in the summer, and – just in case you haven't watched enough Ashes cricket over the past few months – the visit of Australia in 2015.

Defeat in the fourth Test at Melbourne was harder to stomach than the three thrashings at Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth because England had bowled themselves into a winning position. But the third and fourth innings revealed some home truths: not everyone playing here can possibly start against Sri Lanka in June.

With thanks and a good deal of regret, it may be time now to draw a line under the Test careers of Tim Bresnan, Monty Panesar and Michael Carberry and to insist that Jonny Bairstow brush up on his glovework if he wants to keep wicket beyond Sydney.

If that sounds like knee-jerkism, then the alternative – to keep allowing the same players to make the same mistakes, like Einstein's definition of insanity – is no longer sustainable.

Bresnan was operating in the mid-to-late 70mphs at the MCG, and looked like a rabbit in Mitchell Johnson's headlights. It's true that he kept it tight in the first innings, but there has not been a more helpful surface all series for his kind of bowling. During the closing stages of Australia's run-chase on Sunday, even the usually phlegmatic Chris Rogers treated him with something close to contempt.

Panesar was all but ignored by Alastair Cook on the fourth morning, but has always been less effective without Graeme Swann in the team, and remains the kind of liability in the field that can only be justified if he is spinning England to victory. His three wickets in this series have cost 85 each.

In New Zealand earlier this year, when Swann was absent because of his dodgy elbow, Panesar managed five at 70. The memory of his success in India a year ago, when he and Swann shared 19 wickets at Mumbai, is fading with worrying alacrity.

Carberry may be the biggest pity of all. When Cook fell for a lovely 51 on Saturday afternoon, England were 116 ahead with nine second-innings wickets in hand. But Carberry was digging for himself the deepest trench yet in a series full of them. He ended up with 12 from 81 balls.

Had he managed to turn any of his five scores of 30-plus in this series into something more substantial than the 60 he made in the first innings at Adelaide, this might have been regarded as a blip. But his tendency to get stuck in a rut has given Australia's bowlers all the encouragement they need – and placed pressure on the batsman at the other end.

Given the treatment: Bresnan (top right) watches another boundary sail by off his bowling

In a spin: Panesar has been off-form since starring in India in the winter of 2012

If the glove fits: Bairstown (left) already has Buttler (right) breathing down his neck

Going nowhere: Michael Carberry's tempo has been a major concern in the series

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As for Bairstow, it took all of one game on the sidelines for Matt Prior to enhance his reputation. And Jos Buttler is still waiting in the wings.

If England decide to drop Carberry at Sydney, they may have to muck Joe Root around once more by asking him to open – a move that would involve promoting Ian Bell to No 3 and handing a debut to Gary Ballance.

But the medium-to-long-term option may be to have a look at Sam Robson, Middlesex's 24-year-old Sydney-born opening batsman who has qualified for England.

Knocking on the door: Robson (left) and Ballance (right) could both come in to the batting line-up

Beyond that, England have to make a couple of New Year's resolutions. The first is that they sort out Steven Finn's problems – he has too much potential to fall victim to conflicting advice. The second is that they identify a spinner who is more of an all-round package than Panesar. That may be Scott Borthwick; it may not. The point is that Panesar is no longer viable.

But in the end only the man himself knows when the time is right to go. We should be thanking Graeme Swann for the fun times, not picking apart the hardest professional decision he has ever had to make.

As for Sydney, we may just have to grin and bear it.

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

Putting a sock in it

Amid all the trash-talk that has marred this Ashes series, there was a revealing note of bonhomie on Friday after Stuart Broad drew blood from Chris Rogers's right temple. England's players immediately rushed over to Rogers following the blow to his helmet, and once it became clear that he was all right, Broad rewarded him with a friendly pat on the back.

How could this be? Rogers had a theory. ’I don't sledge much,’ he said, ’so maybe it's not coming back.’ Rogers suggested sportsmanship wasn't, after all, dead. Others, if they are being consistent, will claim he has gone soft. The Top Spin knows which modus operandi it prefers.

Pat on the back: Rogers is left bloodied and dazed by a blow on the head from Broad (second right)

Pain – but what gain?

On Friday at the MCG, a self-publicist faced a series of full-pelt Brett Lee no-balls in the outdoor nets. A crowd gathered in the way you imagine they did for executions by guillotine. The self-publicist ran away from all six deliveries and was hit by four of them, but achieved his goal of being the centre of attention.

Richard Hadlee believes Lee was negligent – the self-publicist could have been badly hurt. Yes indeed. And the sad thing was there was almost no one in Melbourne who wanted it any other way.

Fool's gold

Kevin Pietersen has occasionally appeared in this column for the wrong reasons, but he made a valid point about England's state of mind during an interview over the weekend with Sky Sports, suggesting they had suffered an Olympics-style comedown after the 3-0 win in the summer.

The fact that England have been outbatted, outbowled and outfielded by Australia should not detract from the basic truth of his claim. If you're going to schedule 10 straight Ashes Tests, don't be surprised if the team that wins the first gruelling encounter goes on to lose the second.

Words of wisdom: Pietersen tried his best to explain England's defeat

Au revoir, Jacques

The last couple of years have seen a changing of the Test guard: VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Andrew Strauss, Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, Sachin Tendulkar and now Jacques Kallis – the finest all-round cricketer of the lot of them, and possibly the best of all-time.

So who are we left with from the old generation, the group of players who grew up in the pre-Twenty20 era and who honed their cricket for the sheer love of it? Probably only three: the Guyanese limpet Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Sri Lanka's batting maestros Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. They will be gone soon, too. Enjoy them while you can.

All-time great: Kallis waves farewell to the Durban crowd on Monday after his final Test match

Mea culpa

Before the Ashes began, we rashly predicted a 2-2 draw. We can only apologise for assuming the cricket would be two-sided. Still, at least a proud tradition of getting pretty well every forecast hilariously wrong remains intact…